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Movies Forum Index » Movie Reviews Forum » Review: Runaway Jury (2003)
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| Jon Popick |
 Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2003 4:49 pm |
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Planet Sick-Boy: http://www.sick-boy.com
"We Put the SIN in Cinema"
© Copyright 2003 Planet Sick-Boy. All Rights Reserved.
In the days of yore, before courtroom dramas made up the majority of
prime-time television programming, there were these things we called John
Grisham Books, which were usually about some young, naïve Southern lawyer on
the run from (or sometimes chasing after) his corrupt elder colleagues.
People liked them a whole lot, and eventually Hollywood started adapting
these novels into films. And people liked the films even more. But the
phenomenon fizzled out thanks to a combination of things, not limited to
Robert Altman getting his lethally boring hands on The Gingerbread Man, the
dull big-screen version of Grisham's preachy The Chamber, and the author's
side trips away from the law and toward sports and Christmas, of all things.
Runaway Jury is the best of Grisham's books, though one wonders why it would
cost $60 million to turn such an interesting story into the big, glossy
behemoth that you'll see on the screen. Here, Big Tobacco is replaced by a
more timely villain: A gun manufacturer who provided the weapon with which a
disgruntled stock trader shot up his office in the film's opening scene.
One of the victims (played by an uncredited Dylan McDermott) leaves behind a
wife (Joanna Going) who attempts to sue the gun maker two years later.
Enter idealistic Southern attorney (Latin: Atticus Finchius) Wendell Rohr
(Dustin Hoffman, Confidence), who hopes to set an astounding precedent with
a win in a New Orleans courthouse. Trouble is, Rohr is up against a slimy
team of lawyers (headed by X2's Bruce Davison) who have hired the universe's
best jury consultant, Rankin Fitch (Grisham vet Gene Hackman). Fitch and
his team of privacy assassins study everything about potential jurors, from
their body language to their medical records (did Grisham foresee the
Patriot Act?). Rohr, meanwhile, is left with a seemingly less-effective
consultant, who is played by Old School's Jeremy Piven.
Somehow, Fitch & Co. manage to overlook the guy who becomes Juror #9:
Nicholas Easter (John Cusack, Identity), a part-time student and videogame
aficionado who, upon receipt of his jury summons, heads to a voodoo store in
a scene that, in retrospect, makes not one lick of sense. Is he working the
jury from the inside? Will he throw the trial based on which side tosses
the most money at his shady accomplice (Hoffman's Confidence costar, Rachel
Weisz)? Does he have some other ulterior motive? Go see the movie
yourself, cheapskate.
Director Gary Fleder's (Don't Say a Word) already dubious talents are
further hindered by a screenplay which sports the pawprints of four
different writers, including the brain trusts behind films like What's the
Worst That Could Happen? And Knockaround Guys. One of them decided it would
be cool to make up a scene where Hoffman and Hackman have one of those Big
Centerpiece Dialogue things to themselves, as if it would capture the same
kind of vibe (albeit a totally overrated one) as DeNiro and Pacino in
Michael Mann's Heat. This scene wasn't in the book, and it sticks out like
a sore thumb. Also not in the book is Piven's character, though I blame his
presence more on Cusack than anyone. This is the 10th film they've done
together, making Piven the Clint to Cusack's Ron Howard.
On the plus side, most people will go to see the top-notch cast, and I don't
think they'll be let down. Hackman is sufficiently unctuous, Cusack is (as
always) very likable, and Hoffman's mumbling lends itself to a decent
N'awlins accent. Paul Thomas Anderson regular Robert Elswit shoots the Big
Easy in a manner that makes everything appear dark, rainy, creepy and
foreboding. As a whole, Jury works in the most primal ways. It just took a
mediocre filmmaker to reveal the weaknesses in Grisham's story.
2:07 - PG-13 for violence, language and thematic elements
==========
X-RAMR-ID: 36043
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1207752
X-RT-TitleID: 1126402
X-RT-SourceID: 595
X-RT-AuthorID: 1146
X-RT-RatingText: 6/10 |
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